


The Power Of Suggestion

by Nadja_Lee



Category: The Sentinel (TV)
Genre: Angst, Dark Blair Sandburg, Dark Love, Dubious Morality, Extremely Dubious Consent, M/M, Manipulation, Mind Control, Power Dynamics, Power Imbalance, Power of Words, Shaman Blair Sandburg, Temptation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-11-30
Updated: 2006-11-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:27:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22990963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nadja_Lee/pseuds/Nadja_Lee
Summary: Blair is slowly, through trial and error, beginning to acknowledge that he has had the power to make Jim obey any command he may voice…as long as he clearly states it as a command. The question is now what the young Shaman, still struggling with his powers, will do with such power; give into temptation or can he find another way?
Relationships: Jim Ellison/Blair Sandburg
Kudos: 34





	The Power Of Suggestion

**Author's Note:**

> This story toys with ideas I’ve had about these characters for a long time. It also means we’re moving closer to the darker side of power, love, loyalty and honour than I have in my other Sentinel fics. Not a dark fic pro say in my world of fics but diffidently darker than most of my Sentinel fics which though normally angsty aren’t dark character wise.
> 
> Thanks so much to Nancy for wonderful beta as always.

# The Power Of Suggestion

Clarity came slowly, filtered through a series of events which would later fit a puzzle Blair had never thought he would be solving…yet alone allow reaching the conclusion he did.

Thinking back it was a development that had started when he first met Jim, and had then grown as their connection had grown; he had just not seen it before. The first time he had become aware of it had been after he had unintentionally revealed Jim’s secret to the world and had later left Rainer University. He tried the cop thing for a few months then, but it wasn’t him. It went against all he had been raised to believe in, all he was, but for the love of a man who would never know how loved he was he had tried. Unable to contain his own frustration with his inability to accept being a cop, Blair had one evening had a heated argument with Jim, who was feeling just as frustrated with being unable to help.

Blair remembered the words that had started it all. He had yelled at Jim, saying, “If you really wanted to help me then you wouldn’t have suggested I become a cop.”

Jim had sighed and looked miserably at him as he had asked, “What shall I do, Chief? Tell me that.” Blair had looked sadly at him and replied with equal amount of defeat, anger and frustration, “Get me my PhD degree. I’ve earned it!”

Three weeks later Jim had told him he had arranged for him to finish his degree at Cascade University, and four months after that he had his degree and a position as a researcher with that University. Blair still rode with Jim when his senses or cases demanded it. Blair had known Jim had used some contacts to arrange all this, probably also some of his father’s, brother’s and his own from his Covert Ops days, or at least his skills from that time, but in his happiness at being back where he loved to be Blair hadn’t questioned it.

Over the next two years several things happened which lead Blair to the shocking conclusion he finally reached. Apart from each other many of the episodes seemed harmless: Blair would get upset, demand something and Jim would give in. Why question luck? Blair had managed to get Jim to agree to tests when his senses had spiked, and go with him to various anthropology or psychology lectures or events that interested him but not Jim. Blair hadn’t suspected anything until Jim started to do things against his nature. Comments like ‘shut up’ when meant to be comical or ‘give me that’ when indicating something Jim had or was holding were suddenly not funny anymore when Jim did as ordered at once. Afterwards Jim would try and pretend he had meant to do it or he would pick up the thread of conversation as if nothing had happened. Yet just as Blair had started to realize what was happening, so too did a cautious look appear in Jim’s eyes whenever he was around him.

Blair did some research and it seemed that in ancient time when Sentinels were protectors and warriors, this also put them in jeopardy of being captured by the enemy as they would possess great skill and information the enemy would desire. There was also the risk of them turning against their own tribe, by force or choice. The Guide’s verbal control over the Sentinel had been a safety mechanism; it meant the tribe would always be able to control the Sentinel, so if the Sentinel were captured or considered turning against his tribe, the Guide could command him back or, in extreme cases, could even command the Sentinel to take his own life for the good of the tribe. Also, when wounded by natural means or when ill Sentinels healed largely by their own mental control over their bodies since most medicines had a negative effect on them, some to such an extreme degree it would act like a poison. Blair assumed the mental control the Guide had might somehow be connected to this connection between mind and body that Sentinels were said to have.

The information had filled Blair with a sense of horror yet also a dark excitement he fought for months to ignore. He knew what he should do. He should explain it to Jim and let him come to terms with it. Yet Blair knew how much Jim valued his freedom and despised any kind of containment. Despite Blair’s best efforts he would never be able to guarantee that he would never unintentionally give an order Jim would be genetically programmed to obey. The right thing to do would be for him to leave without telling Jim. Come up with some kind of excuse and leave quietly but on friendly terms to avoid arousing Jim’s suspicion. Many times while Jim was at work Blair started to pack, only to freeze halfway through. He had known Jim for five years and had been in love with him for the last three. He was constantly around Jim; they were always in each other's lives yet never in the way Blair wanted. His desire and longing for things to change had slowly turned from loving adoration with fits of appearing cheerful and hopeful and into a stage even he was afraid to analyse too closely. Jim’s love had become a goal, an obsession….something he craved and needed with a frightening intensity. It was a need so deep and so strong that Blair in his pursuit of it had started to toy with the power he knew he had. It was tempting…so tempting….

“Chief?” Jim interrupted Blair’s musings when he entered the loft and saw Blair sitting by the table, laptop and papers spread everywhere.

“Hi Jim. How was work?” Blair said with a warm yet tired smile. He couldn’t keep this up. He couldn’t keep playing he was just the 'good friend'.

“Mostly paperwork and routine today,” Jim said as he hung up his coat and stood by the kitchen counter, going through mail while Blair walked up to him, a thoughtful and determined look on his face.

Things had to change and Blair was running out of patience. “Jim….have you ever…” he took a deep breath. He couldn’t back down now. “Have you ever been with another man?”

Jim looked up from his mail and gave him an odd and very surprised look. “What kind of question is that?”

“Answer the question.” Blair’s voice was soft yet strong, his eyes hopeful and intense as he looked carefully at Jim’s face and expression to see his reaction.

As always when Blair formulated an order, Jim’s eyes had a far away look to them when he did as he'd been told to do.

“No.”

Jim’s eyes cleared and he looked questioningly at Blair, clearly puzzled by the question and probably also why he had answered it.

Blair's heart sank. This wasn’t going well at all, but nothing ventured…“Have you ever considered being with me…as more than a friend?” he asked boldly, moving so close to Jim that they were standing face to face with only a foot or two between them. Jim looked shocked, at him but before he could start to form words Blair added, “Answer the question truthfully.”

“No.”

Something inside Blair froze at that word, hardened and closed yet the fire of desire and love was still there, behind it all. There was one chance left…

“I love you,” he said honestly, yet all sense of fear in the revelation was gone by the knowledge that he could just command Jim to forget the words if he wanted to. “Could we try to make it work?”

He leaned in and stole a kiss but Jim gently drew back, his hands on Blair’s shoulders in a firm yet soft grip.

“Chief.” He smiled a little but then shook his head. “Blair…I love you too, but just not like that.” His voice was soft, kind and compassionate but also firm and decisive as he took Blair’s hands away from his body and stepped back from him.

Blair nodded, tears forming in his eyes at the gentleness and thoughtfulness with which Jim rejected him. Yet there was a coldness behind the fire in Blair’s eyes now, a determination and ruthlessness that had not been there before.

“I’m truly sad to hear that,” Blair said, and he meant it. He knew what he had to do and he was no longer tormented by moral doubts. This was for the best. He was sure of it. This was the way, the only way, to make them both happy. He was doing the right thing. With that conviction, he briefly closed his eyes and when he reopened them there was a darkness in his soul which would always remain. Tears ran down his cheeks but his voice was strong when he spoke again.

“You love me. Your greatest desire is to become my lover and partner. You will be happy. And you will forget this conversation. You remember only this: You came home, told me you loved me, I said I loved you back and we started to kiss.”

Jim gave him the empty look he got whenever Blair’s words rearranged his mind. “What?” Jim asked, blinking and clearly fighting the mental command.

Blair sank and more tears ran down his cheeks. “Obey me,” he insisted softly but the words echoed harshly in his soul.

“No!” Jim protested and shook his head but his eyes were still clouded; his mind was not strong enough to fight what he had been born to do, born to be. He was a Sentinel…he could never again not be one.

“Obey me!” Blair repeated forcefully and Jim seemed to freeze, his eyes open yet unseeing.

“Jim?” Blair asked, starting to get concerned. Maybe he had put too much pressure on him. Jim had a very strong will….

“Chief?” Jim mumbled as he blinked several times. He looked as if he had just awoken from a deep sleep, his expression one of confusion and disorientation. Then he noticed the trails of tears on Blair’s cheeks.

“What’s wrong? Are you all right?” he asked, full of concern as he stroked Blair's cheek with his right hand, a caring and loving gesture.

Blair lifted a hand to cover Jim’s and pressed against the other man’s touch, fresh tears threatening to fall.

“I’m…I’m just happy,” Blair mumbled, the words both a lie and the truth. He would be happy now. He would. They both would. He hadn’t done anything wrong….

Jim smiled warmly.

“Come here, sweetheart,” he said lovingly and drew Blair to him, laid his arms around him and kissed him deeply with all the love and passion of a man who had longed for this moment for ages. Blair leaned into the touch and enjoyed the sensation, his victory.

Later that evening, after they had made love and Blair lay inside Jim’s warm and protective embrace, he swore he would never again use his unique abilities against Jim. Yet a dark flame had been lit and what was known can never be unknown. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The lack of fear and, guilt, and the way he could explain his actions away - forget about them as he was determined to do - should have warned him but for now he simply smiled in happiness and snuggled closer to his lover. Everything was as it should be.

He didn’t see the spirit animals of a black panther and a grey wolf sitting in the corner of the room, nor did he see how the blank panther seemed weakened, fighting to stand on its own. He didn’t see the grey wolf howling in sorrow as it sat by its side, fighting a useless fight against the turning of its fur from grey to dark black.

The End


End file.
